Tech Ed

William Bennett, the former secretary of education, has announced that he will open the country's first for-profit online elementary and secondary school, called K12, in fall 2001.

William Bennett, the former secretary of education, has announced that he will open the country's first for-profit online elementary and secondary school, called K12, in fall 2001.

Interestingly, Bennett wrote last year that there is no evidence that computers significantly improve learning. Bennett's turnabout is indicative of the growing acceptance of online learning. Last year, schools spent more than $5 billion on education technology, according to the Associated Press.

At a Microsoft summit in February, Bill Gates trumpeted the school of the future as an institution that will rely less on paperwork and more on Web-based collaboration and curriculum.

But not everyone is swayed. Leading the flip side of the debate is MSNBC commentator and Berkeley astronomer Clifford Stoll. Stoll is also the author of The High-Tech Heretic: Why Computers Don't Belong in the Classroom and Other Reflections by a Computer Contrarian. Stoll argues that although computers provide students with information, machines can't replace real experience.

Stoll says, "Throngs of educators, lemming-like, line up to wire their schools while teachers deal with the cry for computer literacy while coping with semiliterate students who can't read a book."

But education officials say wiring schools can work with traditional teaching. "It's the wave of the present: Computers add an entirely new element to learning, which is wonderful," says Darrell Capwell, spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers. "You can have access to a lot of different information, plus do your field trips and then incorporate the two."